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Remoteness promotes biological invasions on islands worldwide

Moser, Dietmar; Lenzner, Bernd; Weigelt, Patrick; Dawson, Wayne; Kreft, Holger; Pergl, Jan; Pyšek, Petr; van Kleunen, Mark; Winter, Marten; Capinha, César; Cassey, Phillip; Dullinger, Stefan; Economo, Evan P.; García-Díaz, Pablo; Guénard, Benoit; Hofhansl, Florian; Mang, Thomas; Seebens, Hanno; Essl, Franz

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Authors

Dietmar Moser

Bernd Lenzner

Patrick Weigelt

Holger Kreft

Jan Pergl

Petr Pyšek

Mark van Kleunen

Marten Winter

César Capinha

Phillip Cassey

Stefan Dullinger

Evan P. Economo

Pablo García-Díaz

Benoit Guénard

Florian Hofhansl

Thomas Mang

Hanno Seebens

Franz Essl



Abstract

One of the best-known general patterns in island biogeography is the species–isolation relationship (SIR), a decrease in the number of native species with increasing island isolation that is linked to lower rates of natural dispersal and colonization on remote oceanic islands. However, during recent centuries, the anthropogenic introduction of alien species has increasingly gained importance and altered the composition and richness of island species pools. We analyzed a large dataset for alien and native plants, ants, reptiles, mammals, and birds on 257 (sub) tropical islands, and showed that, except for birds, the number of naturalized alien species increases with isolation for all taxa, a pattern that is opposite to the negative SIR of native species. We argue that the reversal of the SIR for alien species is driven by an increase in island invasibility due to reduced diversity and increased ecological naiveté of native biota on the more remote islands.

Citation

Moser, D., Lenzner, B., Weigelt, P., Dawson, W., Kreft, H., Pergl, J., …Essl, F. (2018). Remoteness promotes biological invasions on islands worldwide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(37), 9270-9275. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804179115

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 2, 2018
Online Publication Date Aug 29, 2018
Publication Date Aug 29, 2018
Deposit Date Jun 15, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Print ISSN 0027-8424
Electronic ISSN 1091-6490
Publisher National Academy of Sciences
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 115
Issue 37
Pages 9270-9275
DOI https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804179115

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